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Climate Dynamics

General

Prefix

AHS

Course Number

478

Course Level

Undergraduate

College/School

College of Science and Engineering

Description

Balance requirements of the climate system, atmospheric and oceanic general circulation, history of earth's climate, causes of climate change, climate modelling with consideration of dynamical systems analysis as well as global coupled models.

Prerequisites

Credits

Min

3

Max

3

Repeatable

No

Goals and Diversity

MN Goal Course

No

Cultural Diversity

No

Learning Outcomes

Outcome

Explain the implications of nonlinearity to the nature of the climate system.

Outcome

Derive equilibrium temperatures from globally averaged energy balance models.

Outcome

Analyze the balance requirements of the atmospheric circulation including the role of atmospheric fluxes.

Outcome

Explain the mechanisms driving the surface and deep water circulations of the oceans.

Outcome

Analyze the atmosphere/ocean interactions involved in the El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon.

Outcome

Identify climate system interactions leading to long-term climate change.

Outcome

Synthesize knowledge of the atmospheric general circulation to explain the temperature signature of a greenhouse warming in zonally-averaged global temperatures.

Course Outline

Course Outline

Components of the climate system and their nonlinear nature. 10% Balance requirements of the climate system. 10% Causes of climate change 10% Atmospheric general circulation. 20% Oceanic general circulation. 10% Mechanistic history of earth's climate. 10% Climate modelling including dynamical systems models and global coupled models. 20% Analysis of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections. 10%